indo-asian news service
New Delhi, March 26: Young Indian shuttler HS Prannoy created the biggest upset of the Yonex Sunrise India Open badminton tournament when he outplayed top seed and tournament favourite Jan O Jorgensen to advance into the quarterfinals here Thursday.
In a high-octane match played at the Siri Fort stadium here, World No.17 Prannoy played some punishing rallies to defeat the Danish World No. 2 18-21, 21-14, 21-14. Olympic champion Lin Dan cruised into the last eight with a 21-13, 21-16 win over Hu Yun of Hong Kong.
Women’s top seed Saina Nehwal got the better of birthday girl Ruthvika Shivani, who is also the current national champion. The World No. 2 beat the 18-year-old 21-16, 21-17. In another match, men’s second seed and World No. 4 Kidambi Srikanth defeated Japanese World No.15 Kento Momota 21-12, 15-21, 21-15.
However, Commonwealth Games champion Parupalli Kashyap’s campaign was halted by Xue Song of China, who won 21-17, 21-11.
Jorgensen was clearly struggling to find answers to the fast pace of Prannoy’s game, but said that the ‘best player won’ this match. Though five-time World Champion Dan and Saina Nehwal were playing on adjacent courts, the crowd was totally focused on the Prannoy-Jorgensen battle.
Jorgensen started off aggressively in the first game though Prannoy matched him point-for-point. Both the towering players were hitting the shuttle all over the court and tested each other’s capabilities. Though Jorgensen pocketed the first game, Prannoy came back strongly in the second and took advantage of the drift to which many players are trying to adjust.
The decider game saw some tense moments when Prannoy was leading 13-11. The chair umpire over-ruled the line-umpire’s judgment over a line-call thus awarding the point to the Dane. By the time Prannoy and chief national coach P Gopichand realised what had happened, the Indian had run out of time to challenge the call.
“Though I lost the point, I was determined to keep my focus on the game. I have had some pretty close calls in many tournaments, so I did not let the coach’s and crowd’s agitation get to me,” Prannoy said about the incident after the match.
Jorgensen won the next point, but he admitted that the ‘aggressive approach of the Indian coach was a bit too much for him’, and he lost focus thereafter. Prannoy saw his chance and raced away to victory, sending the crowd into a frenzied celebration.
